Research to Policy Engagement Initiative Discussion: Technology and Societal challenges: What’s policy design got to do with it?

Please join us for our second meeting and interactive discussion on cross-cutting issues linking science, technology, and practice.

Discussion #2: Technology and Societal challenges: What’s policy design got to do with it? organized by Dr. Poushali Maji (majip@mit.edu), Dr. Katlyn Turner (katlyn@media.mit.edu) and Jenny Blessing (jbless@mit.edu)

In our second interactive discussion, we will be exploring how the design of policies influences the interface between technology and societal challenges. We’ll draw examples from data privacy laws and nuclear policy in the US and agricultural policies in India, highlighting how policy structures and implementation processes impact the nature and distribution of technology adoption and can reinforce existing societal hierarchies. We will then move on to group discussions of further examples and think through elements of effective policy design and the role of evidence and information in policymaking.

MIT’s Technology and Policy Program and its Research to Policy Engagement Initiative aims to to create a community of researchers who can learn, apply, and contribute to developing best practices in bridging knowledge to action on societal challenges, across experiences in different research domains. The initiative seeks to connect researchers from diverse disciplines, policymakers and other stakeholders interested in the implementation aspects of technology by creating a discussion space for technology-policy interfaces.